Morning Workshop Presenters

1A How has the Pandemic changed me as a Supervisor? Mary Byrne, MSW, PhD, LICSW - Salem State University Mary has served in clinical, management, and leadership roles in child and family services for many years. She also served on the faculty and leadership of the School of Social Work at Salem State University before retiring. Mary remains involved in volunteering and on Boards for statewide agencies and foundations and continues to study and present in her research area of resilience in child and family staff and pro-resilient organizational leadership.

Caryn Lister, LICSW, MSW - The Home for Little Wanderers Caryn Lister is the Director of the Center for Permanency at The Home. She has a rich history in family and children’s services including child protection, residential, placement, and therapeutic services. She has also taught, supervised interns, and served as a field placement specialist at the School of Social Work, Salem State University.

Tina Hoodnagle, LICSW MSW - Lynn Public Schools Tina has been a social worker since the early 80’s, having worked in juvenile justice, with teen parents and then shifted into working outpatient mental health with children and families until her transition to the Lynn Public Schools in 2002. She has enjoyed helping the student support model grow in the LPS and to help influence and guide the SSW team to provide Tier 1 and Tier 2 level of support for all students. Supervising new social workers is a major source of professional fulfillment and she has had the privilege to witness the social work process in action and the resulting positive impact on students and families.

Tracy Gilmore, LICSW MSW- Department of Children and Families Tracy Gilmore is an Area Program Manager with the Department of Children and Families. She has rich experience working in child welfare and teaches and supervises interns for Salem State University, School of Social Work.  Tracy has over twenty years of experience working towards permanency for children through foster care and adoption.

2A Writing for Self-Care and Wellness Áine Greaney - Health Writer and Expressive Writing Teacher Irish-born author Áine Greaney lives and writes in Newburyport, Mass. In addition to her five books, her essays and stories have appeared in Creative Nonfiction, The Boston Globe Magazine, The New York Times, and other outlets. Her most recent book, GREEN CARD & OTHER ESSAYS, was published in 2019 and her book Writer with a Day Job was released by Writers Digest Books. Her awards and shortlists include a citation in “Best American Essays” and a Pushcart Prize nomination. In addition to her 20 years working in healthcare, Áine has led workshops at various venues, colleges and conferences, including the National Writers Digest Conference, the North Shore Cancer Resource, The Carver School of Medicine, U.Iowa, the Hope Floats Healing and Wellness Center, Wellesley Public Library, Facing History and Ourselves, the International Women’s Writing Guild (keynote) and the Pioneer Valley Writers Workshop. She serves on the faculty of the Narrative Medicine Certificate Program and MFA program at Baypath University and at Write the World. Áine’s website is www.ainegreaney.com.

3A Community and Family Engagement Practice Jose Monteiro, M.Ed - Department of Children and Families Jose is the Director for Community and Family Engagement, @DCF for the past 5 yrs. He has a Bachelor's degree from UMMS Amherst and a Master's in clinical psychology from Cambridge College. Jose served 25yrs in the US Army and is currently retired. For 15 years he was the Coordinator for Children's service with the Department of Mental Health at Brockton Multi-Service Center. As the current director for family engagement, Jose oversees all the prevention work for The Department to include Family Resource Centers, Community Connections Coalitions, Nurturing Fathers programs, Grandparents Raising Grandchildren, and Family Advisory Committee.

4A Brave Spaces, Your School Community and You: DEI Training Tips Alison Dudley, LICSW - Northshore Education Consortium As a White, cisgender, school social worker, Alison is committed to ensuring a positive school climate where ALL students and staff feel welcome and a sense of belonging to our NEC community. At the Kevin O’Grady School, a specialized school for students with severe special needs, Alison works with a diverse student population racially and ethnically, and as a member of the Family Support team, she works to ensure all families feel included and are able to communicate with their child’s teacher. Alison enjoys being a part of the DEI committee because she gets the opportunity to have conversations with all levels of the school to discuss ways in which we can improve and ensure that we are actively working toward an anti-racist, inclusive culture.

Kristen Vaisvila, MAT - Northshore Education Consortium Kristen is the Consortium’s ESL Teacher and ELE coordinator. She also works with their multilingual students as they learn English and she makes sure that their families are receiving information about their child’s education in a language that they can understand. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are topics that are relevant to her career, but also fundamental to her belief and desire that all people should be allowed the opportunity to contribute in a meaningful way, regardless of their race, gender, ability/disability, sexual orientation, or any other aspect of their identity. Kristen got involved in the diversity initiative because she wanted to bring more equity and justice to the educational community.

5A Supporting Mental Health Needs of Immigrant Youth Divya Chaturvedi, MPA - Saheli, Inc. Divya Chaturvedi has been Saheli’s Co-Executive Director since 2018. She holds an MPA degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). She brings more than 15+ years of global non-profit management experience passionately working on a range of gender issues from microfinance, domestic violence, and gender research, to leadership development at a number of the world’s leading international organizations, and academic institutions like UNDP, UNIFEM, Ford Foundation, and Center for Creative Leadership (CCL). Divya has a long-term commitment to the cause of reducing domestic violence and the economic empowerment of women in the South Asian communities.

Renu Tewarie - Saheli, Inc. Renu is Saheli’s Co-Executive Director. She has been a domestic violence prevention advocate at Saheli for many years. She has degrees in psychology and Hindi. She served as an educator for 15 years as the Principal at Shishu Bharati, Walpole, a school for Indian languages and culture. At various times Renu has been a professor of Hindi at Brandeis University, and a class dean and teacher at an international school in Geneva, Switzerland. Having instructed children and adults of all ages has enabled Renu to develop effective communication and counseling skills in her role as a domestic violence prevention advocate. Renu is a certified Hindi Medical Interpreter and freelances for Catholic Charities.

6A Recovering from Educational COVID: Using Student Rights to Advance Recovery Tim Sindelar, Attorney - EdLaw Project Tim has represented youth and their families for more than 40 years. At the EdLaw Project, he works to improve education opportunities for court-involved youth and to disrupt the School to Prison Pipeline. Through individual advocacy, training, and mentoring EdLaw is able to provide legal assistance on education issues to thousands of students each year.

Michele Scavongelli, Attorney - EdLaw Project Michelle joined the EdLaw Project as an Equal Justice Works Fellow in September 2012, continued on as Senior Counsel, and became Deputy Director of the Youth Advocacy Foundation in October 2018. Michele has successfully represented over two hundred families in the past seven years in both school discipline and special education matters. Michele graduated Northeastern University School of Law in 2012. During law school, Ms. Scavongelli was a recipient of a Rappaport Fellowship at the Massachusetts Office of the Child Advocate and a recipient of a Hennessey Fellowship at the Mental Health Legal Advisors Committee. She earned her S.B. in Mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1979.

7A Turning Experiences and Challenges into Triumph: GIFT-Gathering and Inspiring Future Talent Training Kim Bisset, Ed.D - Radiate Career Consulting, LLC Kim Bisset works in the fields of education, career development, and psychiatric rehabilitation helping individuals identify and achieve great job matches and realize their dreams. Kim has an intensive background in training and curriculum design. Kim collaborated with a team of young adults with mental health challenges, Department of Mental Health, and industry experts to create an innovative 15 session (75 hour) interactive training.

Antoinette Jones, Certified Peer Specialist (CPS) - Radiate Career Consulting, LLC Antionette is a Certified Peer Specialist (CPS), and she is trained in Motivational Interviewing. Antoinette shares her life experience with mental health and substance use challenges to set the stage to empower young adults to move forward in their lives and careers. Antoinette has been on the Radiate Career Consulting, LLC training team for over 2 years and has just been promoted to Assistant Program Director. She coordinates many administrative tasks for the GIFT, Gathering Inspiring Future Talent training for young adults, Core Elements of Young Adult Peer Mentoring, Motivational Interviewing (MI) and YASS, Young Adult Skills Spotlights series.

8A Gang Intervention: A Collaboration Between the Lynn Police Department and L.Y.S.O.A (Lynn Youth Street Outreach Advocacy) Antonio Gutierrez - Lynn Youth Street Outreach Advocacy, Inc As an outreach worker, Antonio works from personal experience as the co-founder of LYSOA in the city of Lynn. Antonio has been doing this work for about 14 years now. It has been a journey because the population has changed, the young people’s perspective on life has changed on how they deal with life, so we educate differently.

Sgt. Michael Gorman - Lynn Police Department Michael has 16 years’ experience with City of Lynn Police Department. He served as Community Liaison Officer from 2012 to 2014 and was promoted to Sergeant in February 2020. Michael is currently assigned as the Sergeant of the Lynn Police Gang Unit.

9A Five Types of Safety Plans Kyle Lincoln, LMHC, LMFT - Beth Israel Lahey Health Behavioral Services Kyle has worked on the Crisis Team for the North Shore area for the past several years. He has performed crisis evaluations for Beth Israel Lahey Health Behavioral Services and created safety plans with youth every day on the job. In addition, Kyle is an ordained pastor and has experience working with youth and families in a variety of other contexts. Kyle is passionate about youth and family well-being and promoting non-coercive treatment plans that empower families and help them to navigate complex life situations.

10A Motivational Interviewing & Dialectical Behavior Therapy: Strategies for Youth at Risk Kathy Simon, LICSW Kathy is a licensed independent clinical social worker with more than 18 years of experience in the mental health field. Her areas of expertise include comprehensive clinical assessments, the treatment of depression, anxiety, trauma, and the development of healthy relationships and communication. Her modalities of treatment include cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy skills, and motivational interviewing. She takes a holistic approach to treatment in order to highlight the interconnectedness of identities and all aspects of a person’s life. Kathy has worked in a variety of settings that include inpatient mental health, outpatient, residential, jail and court, and now a high school in New Hampshire.

11A Case Study: Amesbury School Support & Empowerment Team (ASSET) - An Innovative Partnership to Provide Critical Support Services to Vulnerable, At-Risk Students and Families in the Amesbury Public Schools Tiffany Nigro, LSW - The Pettengill House Inc. Tiffany is the Executive Director of The Pettengill House, Inc., a community social service agency serving the upper Essex County seacoast area. She is a licensed social worker with an undergraduate degree in elementary education, and as a nonprofit leader she brings over two decades of hands-on experience implementing support services for at-risk populations through a wraparound approach. Tiffany has fostered a strong network of collaborative community partnerships and helped shape the agency’s role as the region’s lead provider of social services, providing a critical safety net for vulnerable individuals, children, and families to improve quality of life, education, and overall wellbeing.

Elizabeth McAndrews, Superintendent - Amesbury Public Schools Elizabeth is currently in her 30th year serving in education. She has had the privilege of working in three districts, Littleton Jr/Sr. HS, Triton Regional HS, and Amesbury High School/Public Schools. During that time Elizabeth worked as a high school history teacher, coach of multiple sports, Athletic Director, Assistant Principal, Principal, and now Superintendent. All of these experiences have provided her with an understanding of the wide range of needs of our students academically, but even more importantly, on a social emotional level.

12A Applying Lessons Learned from COVID to Mentoring Now, and Into the Future Evan Hubbard, LICSW, ACSW - Silver Lining Mentoring Evan is a LICSW and holds a Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Leadership. Evan is the Assistant Director of Clinical Strategy at Silver Lining Mentoring where he oversees all aspects of clinical support and drives the clinical direction for the organization. Evan has been in the field for over a decade and has worked within the field of foster care mentoring for 9+ years. Evan specializes in mentoring, foster care, trauma, attachment, LGBTQ youth, and program development.

13A Providing Clinical Treatment in a Managed Care World: How We Can Partner to Provide Quality Care Sabrina Askari-Dougherty, LMFT - Beacon Health Options Sabrina is an enhanced care coordinator for a behavioral health insurance company. She earned her master’s degree in family therapy from the University of Massachusetts–Boston. Sabrina is passionate about bringing narrative therapy and social-justice-based practices into her work. She is also interested in how systems interact and influence one another and how people can position themselves in relation to these systems in ways that feel congruent with their values and beliefs.

Kristy Rapp, LMHC - Beacon Health Options Kristy is a licensed mental health counselor who graduated from Lesley University's expressive arts therapies program in 2007. Her specialty is working in case management and helping clients access needed services. She is currently the Director of Clinical Services at Beacon Health Options.

14A Job Stress, Burnout and Self Care: What Every Employee Needs to Know to Feel Invested and Energized in Their Work Julie McGrath, LICSW - The Joy Source Julie is a licensed independent clinical social worker who has developed a professional speaking business where for the past ten years has conducted workshops and webinars on workplace issues. Her focus is on promoting a positive workplace and her dynamic energetic style mixed with humor makes her a captivating speaker.

15A Resiliency in Motion- Incorporating OT into Treatment for Greater Functional Independent Outcomes Susan Luscomb, OTR - OT Integrations Susan is an occupational therapist working with children, adolescents, and young adults for the past 37 years. She owns and operates OT Integrations, a private practice specializing in sensory integration and Trauma-Informed Care to promote functional independence for this population. Her goal is to continue treating at-risk youth in collaboration with their mental health providers and her hope is to see the establishment of a standard of care for this population that regularly includes OT and mental health services working together. Susan received the Margaret Bauman Therapist of the Year award in 2000 for her work in autism.

16A Lessons From the Front Lines Michelle Lipinski, Principal - Northshore Recovery High School/Northshore Education Consortium Michelle is the Principal of the Northshore Recovery High School. She is licensed as a Science Teacher, Principal, Special Education Director, and Superintendent. She has been an educator for almost 30 years and has over 20 years of experience as a Principal/Director in alternative education settings. Michelle speaks around the country about the philosophy and mission of creating adolescent recovery supports in academic settings. She is a strong advocate for combining a supportive therapeutic milieu with rigorous academic standards. Michelle has played a leadership role in helping her staff develop authentic performance assessments and upholding high academic standards for students with significant risk factors. Due to her unique perspective on these issues, Michelle and her students have been featured on CNN, NBC, NECN, NPR, Anderson Cooper, MTV as well as other media outlets across the country. Michelle is the co-founder of the icanhelp program (http://icanhelp.today/), operated through her non-profit, Potential Connections, in response to the number of students who are unable to connect with a trusted community partner and consequently never receive the essential services they need to live a productive and healthy life.